Or Else Let Her Be Mine And Mine Alone

The Hand of Fate

The Bastille was working overtime with spies telling King Louis of all the small and big gossip Paris had seen during his absence. The castle's prison was situated mere rooms away, where prisoners howled for clemency. The staff had grown as used to them as Louis himself. When he had heard that the royal procurator wanted to see him, Louis had become significantly curious. What could be so important that it had made the travel-sick Charmolue abandon rest and approach him at two in the morning?

Esmeralda walked close behind the proctor, feeling her heart race with every step. Not only was the pain jarringly coming to distract her, but the prisoners and their cries kept reminding her of the dark fate she could so easily fall into if her scheme failed. She could only hope that the outcome would prove to be otherwise.

Louis caught hold of his visitors. 'Why, sit down, Jacques! And who do we here? Frollo's Bohemian!'

Soldiers arranged chairs for both of them. She sat down immediately and refused a glass of wine. Her muscles begged for the alcohol, but what she was about to do required sobriety.

'I must say that I did not expect you to come here...what was your name?'

'La Esmeralda, your highness.'

'Esmeralda,' said Louis, relishing own wine. 'So what makes you be here and not with poor Claude, who just returned from Arras?'

Measuring her breaths, she tried her best to stay calm. 'I-I know something that you should know.'

He raised an eyebrow.

'Frollo...he was plotting with the Duke of Burgundy against you. He told me about it, and the proctor is the witness,' she uttered quickly.

Noticing her nervousness, Charmolue intervened, 'It is true, your majesty. I participated in it so I could confirm my suspicions. Maximillian had promised Monseigneur Frollo support from the University of Vienna by publishing his discoveries if he agreed to help him. They were planning to overthrow you so the duke could regain control of Burgundy later.'

Louis pressed his lips. 'I had suspicions about Claude myself at Arras. But I hadn't expected treason from him,' he said carefully.

'We thought that you should know about it,' Esmeralda said with fake sympathy. 'And also...I had something else to say.'

The monarch gestured for her to go ahead.

She opened her mouth to speak, but then felt a heaviness in her chest, as if an invisible force had arrived to remind her of the consequences of her potential actions. Of course, she knew that she had been innocent all along. But to say it to the head of the country himself, after being dismissed by the whole city, felt weird.

The King waited for her to talk. It was really happening. She was being given a chance to say the truth, to let it out in the world for once and for all, and that instilled a strange confidence in her. 'Frollo stabbed Phoebus that night, your highness. He framed me for his crime and sentenced me to death. He turned the legal system against me, then said that he would save me if I became his mistress.'

There was silence, and for a second, she feared the worst. Louis was lost in thought and stared at the floor. Finally, he spoke, 'These are grave allegations. You are sure of what you're talking about?'

'We have evidence.' She searched in Marie's basket and took out a thick book the maid had fetched on her saying. She handed it to Louis. 'Frollo wrote his recent discovery of turning copper to gold in this. The date is of July. If he was indeed being loyal to you, why would he keep such a huge discovery a secret?'

'Claude can transform copper to gold?' asked the King, flipping the pages enthusiastically.

'No, the discovery turned out to be incorrect. That's why the deal failed,' said Charmolue. 'I couldn't believe it myself, but it's true.'